What Are Students' Ideas About the Concept of an Electric Current: A Primary School Perspective

What Are Students' Ideas About the Concept of an Electric Current: A Primary School Perspective

Author:

Maharaj-Sharma, Rawatee

Abstract:

Despite the body of research in science education on the concept of electricity in areas such as electricity consumption, electricity conservation, and the benefits and dangers of electricity, very little is known about young students' ideas about the phenomenon called electricity, and specifically the concept of an electric current. In this work, 15 students in Standard 5 (ages 9-11) of a primary school in south Trinidad were surveyed and interviewed in order to obtain qualitative measures of their understanding of what an electric current is. The findings indicate that students' initial ideas were either vague or different from textbook concepts, but that after being exposed to the teaching of a unit on electricity, most students held the scientifically accepted understandings of the concept of an electric current. Furthermore, it was revealed that there was an almost exact match between students' word understandings and their picture understandings of an electric current in both instances-before and after being exposed to a taught unit on electricity

Search UWISpace

Browse

All of UWISpace

This Collection

My Account

Contribute to the RepositoryWe are seeking early adopters of the repository at the St. Augustine campus. If you wish to start a community or collection, you can contact the DSpace development team at The Alma Jordan Library, St. Augustine, at extensions 84243, 82241, 82215 or email UWISpace

The Digital Library Services Centre
Room 224,
The Alma Jordan Library,
The University of the West Indies at St. Augustine,
Trinidad and Tobago
(868) 662 2002Contact Us | Send Feedback | Help | About UWISpace